BOYS Top 20 Preview: #8 Eden Prairie

Eden Prairie and playoff Eden Prairie are two different things. Playoff Eden Prairie is Sunday Tiger. 4th Quarter Brady. World Series Freddy Freeman. What seems like an unlikely run through the daunted section 6 playoffs as a newcomer last season, turns out to be the “most EP thing ever.” Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we count them out? It always comes back to bite us in the you know what. The Eagles had an incredible run through the playoffs and capped it off with a state 3rd place victory.

“Tale of the Tape”

*according to LaxNumbers

**according to MN Lax Hub

• 2024 Record: 13-6

• Strength of Schedule: 76.48 (5th in MSHSL)*

• Team Offense: Averaged 8.37 Goals For per game (49th in MSHSL)**

  • Graduated Senior Production: 42.4%

• Team Defense: Averaged 4.21 Goals Against per game (2nd in MSHSL)**

  • Graduated Defensive Personnel: None

Offense Returning

• Braden Cole (25/13)

• Oscar Berggren (29/6)

• Brady Palmer (25/5)

• Johnny Kleis (11/14)

Defense Returning

Max Kukla (Defense)

Isaiah Hazekamp (Defense)

James Anderson (Defense)

Aiden Chipongian (Goalie)

2025 Schedule

The Lake Conference was the toughest conference in the state last year top to bottom. You had 4 teams that spent time in the top 10: Edina, Wayzata, EP and Minnetonka. Buffalo was better than their record showed with a ton of one goal losses. STMA was a section finalist. And… Hopkins/Park, despite being at the bottom of the standings BEAT the eagles last year. I have heard all the excuses about that game and I don’t care. The fact that the 6-8 team at the bottom of the standings can upset the team who ends up being 3rd in state tells me about the strength of this conference.

We will see all those matchups again this year and I think many of these teams are similar to EP in that they get most of their team back. I expect the Lake Conference schedule to be a bloodbath once again.

The Eagles OOC schedule has not been posted yet. Last year they had: WBL, Chaska, Lakeville North, PL, Blake, Mound, Sartell/Sauk Rapids. I’ll be curious to see which games they keep and which ones they drop. Nonetheless, they’ve found a way to schedule well over the years and I don’t expect that to change

Final Thoughts

On the evening of May 1st… the Eagles had dropped their third straight game to fall to 3-4. I think at this point, everyone in DTA nation had written off the Eagles as even a top 10 team, let alone a state tournament team. However, they went 10-2 in their next 12 games to not only get to state, but, win the third place award. The only losses during that stretch were to Wayzata (by 1) in the regular season and BSM (by 4) in the state semis. They had wins against Minntonka, Edina, Rosemount, Prior Lake, Edina again, Eagan and Stillwater.

A large reason was their defense. An all junior lineup that looks to be one of, if not the, best defenses in the state heading into 2025. The only gave up double digit goals TWICE last year (Edina regular season and BSM playoffs) in 19 games!

The other reason was the emergence of seniors Danny Burke and Ben Reisdorf on the offensive end. Burke was a known commodity, but, Reisdorf went absolute iron man mode. While was “only” 51% at the X in total last season based on lax hub stat input… I watched the Prior Lake and Edina section games and this guy was a game changer in all areas of the field. The eagles will need to replace these guys. Not only their production but their leadership.

The good news is, they get their entire defense back… plus, Air Force commit, James Anderson, on defense that didnt play at all last year due to injury. They also get 4 players that had over 20 points last season back on the offensive end. And… their goalie that was just a hair under a 60% save percentage last year.

I think we are going to see a similar identity to Eagles this year. They will play tough defense. Be athletic. Manage clock and possession time. They will do what they need to do on offense and ride hard to try and get those transition goals (which proved to be a huge aspect of their run in the playoffs last year), but, I am honestly curious if they will get more than 9 goals scored on them in any game next year.